pay rates

[aggiecrew]

on an older thread, I saw that someone said that if you want to make money, you should go to business school instead of med school because the amount you are being paid versus time worked is actually a better rate. While it might be true that someone who only cares about money should indeed go to business school instead of med school for other reasons, I would still think that the assumption they made on rate of pay was way off. (I'm assuming post residency by the way as was the original poster.)

anyone else think so too? The best paying routes for B-school grads are Management Consulting and Investment Banking. Fresh grads can pull in over six figures but these are brutal industries as far as time commitment goes. We're talking 60-70 hrs/week for MC and much more for I-banking.

I don't see these rates beating docs with residencies. Yes, somes docs work 80 hours per week but surely the rate would still be better even versus experienced managers.

More important though is to think about the more "family friendly" specialties like EM, derm, etc. where 40 hours a week and often even less are common for big bucks.

am I wrong here? I'm really interested in hearing what you guys have to say about rates of pay when broken down by the hour and specialty.

any insight whatsoever is GREATLY appreciated.

thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ChuckC]

I agree with your post, I think that even though you go into business school and come out making over 6 figures that you will be worked to the bone. I have friends in I-Banking working about 80 hours a week including working on weekends and they are absolutely miserable. I believe that even though a resident will be making a third of what they are for the same amount of hours will come out on top considering that after they are done, they will have a higher quality of life in most medical specialities. I would rather be a 30 year old EM doctor working 40-50 hours a week pulling in 200K as opposed to a 30 year old I-Banker who will work 80 hours a week pulling in the same amount.

-Chuck

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

The thing to consider is that in medicine you must defer pleasure. It's virtually all-or-nothing. I started college at age 22, the prospect of purchasing a house, car, effectively starting a family, etc. are very slim until I am at least 32 years old at minimum.

Even a person who goes straight out of high school will be 28 or 29 before any money starts coming in at all - and even that's just residency money. The high paying surgery fields will be at least another 5 years after that. In business, you can have an MBA by age 25, and at least pull in a wage. After a couple years, you won't be pulling physician-like wages, but you won't have to worry about feeding your family. The trick is that you can choose to work fewer hours and pull in a lower wage. This is not an option in residency, and only a few very competitive medical fields have this option even after board certification.

You could potentially be 6 or 7 years into a mortgage, have gone through three new cars, and have two or three kids by the time a physician in training is just starting to really get paid.

Also, in business you have the opportunity to be an entrepreneur or investor who REALLY pulls in the cash.

This doesn't even take into account the differing natures of the business world and the medical world.